Word for the Day
Americans who, in characteristically loud tones, voiced support for a warlike, imperialist foreign policy were called
Word for the Day
Main Event
The 16th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified by the required two-thirds of the states in February 1913, and the federal government was henceforth authorized to collect income taxes. Initially, rates were set at 1 percent of taxable income above $3,000 for individuals and $4,000 for married couples. The highest rate was 7 percent, imposed on those with incomes in excess of $500,000. The century’s two world wars would temporarily send income tax rates sky high-as high as 77 percent during World War I and 91 percent during World War II. In the middle of the second war, in 1943, Congress enacted an automatic payroll withholding system, thereby greatly increasing taxpayer “compliance” (as the IRS politely terms it) and doubling tax revenues by 1944.
Word for the Day
American David Bushnell (ca. 1742-1824) invented a submarine that was used during the Revolution in 1776. Then in 1864, the Confederate navy operated the submarine Hunley with disastrous results—for the crew of the Hunley. By the early 20th century, all the major European powers built submarines. By far the best were the German vessels, which were called
Voice from the Past
From Woodrow Wilson’s war message to Congress, April 2, 1917:
“…The present German submarine warfare against commerce is a warfare against mankind. It is a war against all nations. American ships have been sunk, American lives taken in ways which it has stirred us very deeply to learn of, but the ships and people of other neutral and friendly nations have been sunk and overwhelmed in the waters. in the same way. There has been no discrimination. The challenge is to all mankind. Each nation must decide for itself how it will meet it. The choice we make for ourselves must be made with a moderation of poise and a temperateness of judgment befitting our character and our motives as a nation.
“… We have no selfish ends to serve. We desire no conquest, no dominion. We seek no indemnities for ourselves, no material compensation for the sacrifices we shall freely make. We are but one of the champions of the rights of mankind. We shall be satisfied when those tights have been made as secure as the faith and the freedom of the nations can make them….”
Word for the Day
In a military context, a
Stats
A total of 65 million men and women served in the armies and navies of combatant nations during World War 1. Of this number, at least 10 million were killed and 20 million wounded. Of the 2,000,000 U.S. troops who fought, 112,432 died, and 230,074 were wounded. The monetary cost the war to the United States was the equivalent of $32,700,000,000 in dollars.
As deadly as bullets, shells, and poison gas were, an influenza epidemic produced by the filthy living conditions of the war proved even more terrible. About half the number of American troop deaths were caused by “flu.” The epidemic would grow to pandemic proportions after the war, killing some 21.64 million people world percent of the world’s population. In the United States, 25 percent of the ill, and 500,000 died.
Jazzed, Boozed, and Busted Flat
(1918-1929)
